Sand Castles and Sunshine

Sounds like my kind of vacation. I still miss my spring break beach trips to San Diego with my friends. David still says that he liked our Smuggler's Notch ski trip better, but I was cold and the kids had the flu, so I'm going to say that the beach beats it all (edit by David-I actually didn't say I liked Smuggler's Notch better. I said that I would prefer a ski trip to a beach trip. I completely agree that this trip was the best family vacation we have done. The Dotys were great to hang out with and the house was nice, the beach was fun). Plus it was only 2 hours away and the kids slept most of the way there and back. Utter paradise!
Actually, I think that this was the best trip we've ever taken as a family. Our trips to Salt Lake have elements of vacation in them - time away, fun things to do, etc, but I don't really consider them a "vacation." It is a necessary part of life to stay in touch with family. Plus, David rarely comes with us, so they don't really count as a family vacation anyway.Our friends, the Doty family, rented a beach town-house for 2 weeks in Hyannis. They graciously and generously offered to let us come down for a week to share the house which was more than plenty big enough for all of us with 6 levels of rooms. The very best part of the house was that you stepped out the back door and your feet hit the sand of the beach. My personal heaven. Hyannis was surprisingly bug free too and it only rained the first day we were there. It was 70-80 degrees every day. Not too hot, but just hot enough to enjoy the ocean and the pool.This trip was so great. I almost wished that we wouldn't have had internet access. I'm too addicted to e-mail to avoid checking it and David is too addicted to the computer to avoid taking a laptop with us. But, I spent very minimal time checking e-mail.
We did go on a 2 hour train ride to Sandwich. The kids slept 3/4 of the trip, so we called it the nap train, and then on our last day, we went on a pirate adventure ship in the harbor which was an extremely fun outing, but other than that, we simply played on the beach or at the pool with the kids. We didn't go out to eat except for lunch at a clam shack after the pirate cruise. We cooked 3 (totally divine, might I add - Linda is AMAZING) meals a day and stayed at the beach house. I loved every second of it.
The Dotys have 2 little boys. Benjamin is 3 years old. He and Grace have identical alpha personalities, so they had a lot of clashes over toys. Hattie and their little boy Jack (one year old) were totally delightful most of the time. It helps that they both still take naps!

My favorite memories are:

Watching Grace gather seashells. She never met a shell she didn't like. It didn't matter the size, color, or condition. Every one was something to take home.

Watching Hattie play in the surf and look at the sea creatures. The harbor was full of jelly fish, little tiny fish, crabs, and sea weed and kelp. It made swimming a little tricky and ominous, but wading along the tide was excellent.

Taking long walks down the beach with the girls to see what we could see and find.

Looking out at the harbor at night at all the lights on the sailboats and ships.

Smelling the sea breeze in the morning.

Going out on the beach as many times a day as wanted or needed.

Shopping on main street in Hyannis with Linda. We found lots of treasures.

Watching the Olympics on TV at night with Grace. She is so into all of the events!

Putting the kids to bed in their huge bedroom with blue and white twin beds and fish pillows and reading "Good Night Cape Cod" to them every night.

Driving there and back with the kids asleep in the car and getting to talk to David uninterrupted, while seeing the bridges over the Cape Cod canal.

mommy's travel diary - last entry...

I feel badly that I didn't blog during the last week of our trip, but it is a good sign that you're too busy having fun to blog. We packed more into this trip than any other.

The weather this past week was b-e-a-utiful and we took advantage of every last drop right up through late evening each day. I couldn't get Grace to come inside whether we were at my parents' house, David's parents' or Melissa's house, or whatever. I'm not sure how many hours she logged in Melissa's yard, but it was quite a few. Melissa has a spectacular backyard with a cool new deck complete with tree swings, a swing set, and every yard toy known to man. When we came "home" from lissie's, she played in the sand box until late evening. When she was with the Chapmans, she went on walks to the "river" and ran circles around their backyard. At my grandparents' house, she couldn't get enough of walking on the stones through their garden and sitting in the arbor seat or on the big porch swing. She is meant for the outdoors. As I write, she is out on a bike ride with her dad down on the road that runs along the river.
Harriet loves being outside too, but it is a little more challenging for her. She can't walk yet, so she has the option of ruining her clothes or her knees crawling on the cement. She doesn't like the way that grass feels, so she doesn't want to sit on it or crawl on it. She doesn't like sand either. She cried when Grace sprinkled some sand on her leg in the sand box. We did find a great solution at Melissa's house. Sean has this little red chair and Harriet LOVED to sit in it and climb on it. We took it outside on a blanket and she spent over an hour sitting in it while everyone played. She likes the swings too, but those aren't as easy because you have to share them!
Let's see, other things we did this week... We visited a few friends in SLC. I went to my Gamma Xi dinner on Monday night. My friends from my college sorority have been getting together on the first Monday of every single month since we graduated 10 years ago. I love it when my trips to Salt Lake include the first Monday of the month so that I can go to the dinner. We meet at a different restaraunt every time. Really, I can only think of once or twice that we went to the same place. (there really are a LOT of restaraunts in the Salt Lake valley.) It is the coolest way to stay in touch with that group of girls. We have all gone our separate ways in life (some are still friends on a more weekly level), but when we all get together for dinner, it's just like old times. It is therapy for all of us because we can vent all of our worries on each other and get lots of advice and support from people who we trust and who are going through the same things. "go gamma gals!" I miss you out here on the East coast!!!

On Tuesday, we went to Hogle Zoo. I think that every single elementary school field trip, junior high bonus day, and mother of small children who hadn't been out of the house last week was there! It was insane, but it was still pretty fun. All of the kids had a ball. All 3 of my sisters went with us and it was a great family outing. Grace's favorite part was the white alligator who is a temporary resident in the "tent". We came home with many souvenirs... all except a picture! I forgot my camera, Melissa's camera was dead, so we bought a disposable film camera. We did get some photos from it, but now I've left those in SLC too. So, no zoo photos for now...

We visited with our pals, the Covilis on Wednesday night. Jared was absent, but we got to see their kids and Tara and catch up a bit. We are excited to be hosting them this summer for some Red Sox games (and I suppose I will let you go get a geocache or two.)

On Thursday, Grace and I went to visit our mirror images in the west - Jaimy and Reese. We went to the barn for a horsey ride with them as is our perennial favorite thing to do. Gracie and Reesie are such cute little friends. We wish we lived closer so that we could throw the girls in a haystack and ride together. Actually, this trip, Grace and Reese got to ride, but neither were as interested in riding as they were about playing with trains in the cross-ties and climbing up and down the haystack. Jaimy and I made a pact that we will be the ones who get to ride next time and leave the girls to play now that they are old enough to hang around the barn without too much worry.

Thursday night, we had a mother's day celebration with my family in lissie's yard. It was low-key with take-out dinner from one of my favorite places (Rubio's), but was SO nice to just hang out and exchange gifts in the cool canyon breeze of her yard. It was a perfect "end" to our trip.

We were in town all day on Friday, but it was full of craziness. Amid the packing of 4 giant bags plus carry-ons, we had to say our good-byes and do our "one-lasts" of everything. Harriet is getting her 1 year molars and was teething terribly on Friday. She cried a lot of the day and kept on going into the night.

We got on the plane at 11:15pm. As soon as the engines started, Grace laid down and fell right to sleep (so much for her carefully packed back-pack of STUFF to DO!) Much to the shagrin of the other passengers, Harriet was in too much pain to sleep. She screamed for the first 2.5 hours of the flight. I finally got her to sleep and I think we both slept for one hour before the LOUD announcement from the stewardess that we would be landing shortly and to turn off your electronics and buckle your seatbelts. Then, she cried for the last part of the flight too. Grace kept on sleepin'. I had to shake her awake to change planes at JFK (where I had 20 minutes to collect my gate-checked stroller, change terminals and board a second plane.)

We got to Boston at 7:30 in the morning and home before 9am. I'm not so sure about the red-eye with the kids. I think it is easier IF they sleep, but that is a big ol' IF. I wouldn't mind trying it again. We'll see what airline prices do to me in the fall.

Now we are looking forward to our visitors. Mo Deb and Aunt Em are coming in early June. The Chapman grandparents, Aunt Christine, Aunt Jane, cousins, Evan and Janie, and Uncle Richard are coming in late June, and then the Covili couple in July.

Thanks everybody for helping us to have a great time when we visit and for doing such a good job of keeping in touch with us as we live so far away!

diary of a traveling mother

Well, the girls and I landed in SLC on Sunday morning around 12am. We arrived at "home" before 1am and went to bed at 2am (4am Boston time.) Sunday was a rather mixed up day with kids off of nap and eating schedules. However, the kids are extremely good travelers considering...

We spent 2 hours in the Logan airport after Hattie missed her nap, then an hour flight to JFK, then an ugly 2 hours at that airport and then a wonderfully quiet nice ride to SLC. The kids slept on that last flight and it was a GIFT!

I must be some kind of insane person, because on Monday morning, I put them in the car and drove 4 hours south to Cedar City to visit my grandparents. I haven't been to Cedar since Labor Day of 2004 when I ended up getting hit by a red-light runner on my way into town (at the only light between the freeway and my grandparent's house) and nearly totaled my new Pathfinder. The reasons for not going back since don't have anything to do with superstition, mostly moving to the East coast, but it was good to go back and have an un-eventful, safe, non-insurance involved trip.

I have really missed going to Cedar. We use to go at least a few times a year. I love driving through Utah. Living in Massachusetts, I very much miss the wide open spaces of driving through the desert. I have really missed my grandparents too. They were a big part of my life growing up and it has been hard not seeing them since I moved. My grandpa had never met Harriet, so this trip was especially important. (We tried, unsuccessfully, to go in January, but weather and illness prevented the trip.)(Hattie with Grandma Primmer)

So, we spent 2 days in Cedar City. Grace had a ball with my grandparents, and surprisingly, both kids warmed up to the new surroundings and faces very quickly. Hattie was great - took her naps and was good on our shopping outing too. Whenever I travel or visit with my family, our favorite things to do are to go out shopping in funny little places and hang out and talk. We did lots of both.
(side note - I have this really great picture of Hattie with her great-grandpa. This was the first time that she got to meet him. For some reason, I can't get the blogger site to load that picture. I have tried more than a dozen times... photo to follow if I ever get it loaded...)

This morning, we drove "home" from Cedar City. Again, a really nice drive through the vast expanse of the Utah desert and both kids were stellar. They were actually pretty fun in the car. I really can't believe that they've been such sturdy travelers as we have flown 2500 miles and driven 500 miles in the last 4 days.To top off the day, we returned home for a second birthday celebration for Harriet. This time, she got to celebrate with most of her Aunts and her Grandparents and other set of Great-Grandparents. My sisters totally took over the party planning and did an incredible job (translation: totally overboard) on the decorations, cake, food, and gifts. Hattie got some more fun books, darling clothes, some stuffed animals, a baby doll, and some dough for her savings account. My kids are really really lucky to have such a number of people around them who care about them so much. The only thing missing from the party was DADDY!

We do miss David and Shadow and Velvet. We are sad that they couldn't drive through Utah with us and have a birthday party with us today.

PS - PHOTOS TO FOLLOW!!! After a frustrating episode where my entire memory stick was erased by my parents' computer, I eventually recovered the files with some software only to have blogger be too busy to load them.